It is the responsibility of the petitioner to prepare the final exhibit notebook which becomes a part of the final Court record and is for the use of the Judge at trial. However, if the petitioner is a pro sé litigant, it becomes the responsibility of respondent's counsel to prepare the final exhibit notebook and the pretrial order. PRIOR to the pretrial conference, the respondent must provide the petitioner with sufficient copies for all parties of every exhibit it intends to offer for admission. These exhibits must be separated and the pages within the exhibit must be numbered. The petitioner, or respondent's counsel in the event the petitioner is a pro sé litigant, will then identify the exhibit by number when preparing the pretrial order. There must be conformed copies of the exhibit notebook for all parties and the Court.

THE HOW TO'S

1) Exhibits must be bound like a "deposition" or in a three-ring binder.

2) An index listing all exhibits, preferably in the form which is used by the Court, must be the first page of the exhibit. This index must also be included in the final Pretrial Order. (Example.)

3) Within the binder each exhibit must be tabbed with its identifying exhibit number extending on the right side of the divider page (if used) or the first page of each exhibit.

4) Each page within each exhibit must be numbered. (Ex. 1 - 1, Ex. 1 - 2, Ex. 2 - 1, Ex. 2 - 2, etc.)

5) Include the number of pages within each exhibit on the index sheet. (Ex. 1, (pp. 1-3); Ex. 2, (p. 1), etc.)

6) DO NOT GIVE THE COURT AN ILLEGIBLE EXHIBIT. It serves to frustrate. If an exhibit is illegible, the offering party, with the consent of the opposing party, can request the author of the exhibit to reproduce the exhibit so it is legible. A deposition can be taken to clarify the contents of any exhibit.

7) The Workers' Compensation Court does not distinguish between petitioner or respondent exhibits; therefore, all exhibits are numbered sequentially.

8) There shall be no duplication within the exhibit packet! Save a tree!

9) OBJECTIONS must be specific and noted on the index sheet and in the final Pretrial Order. Failure to make an objection in the Pretrial Order may result in the Judge not allowing the objection to be made at the time of trial.

10) Always call the Clerk's Office if you have a question. It will save you and the Court time, energy, frustration, and possibly your sanity. (444-7794)

A few special instructions on MEDICAL EXHIBITS:

1) The preferred way to refer to a doctor's report is to mark it as its own exhibit.

2) If more than one report by a provider is included in an exhibit, the oldest or first report should be page number 1 within the section and the latest, most recent report should be the final page.

3) There should be no duplication of medical reports. An exception might be when in order for the report of a provider to have continuity or make sense the review of a different provider's report is necessary, i.e., panels frequently rely on the records of previous providers. Unless inclusion of a duplicate document is imperative to the understanding of the subject report, do not include the document for a second time.